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Salmon Baked Over Mashed Potatoes

A baked salmon fillet served atop mashed potatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Salmon Baked Over Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Peel and halve the potatoes, then place them in a pot of salted water and boil until tender.

  3. While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the salmon by removing any bones and skin.

Make the mash

  1. Once the potatoes are cooked, drain them and mash until smooth.

  2. Spread the mashed potatoes evenly in a baking dish.

Bake and serve

  1. Place a wire stand over the mashed potatoes and lay the salmon on top.

  2. Season the salmon with salt and pepper.

  3. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked through.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Salmon + potatotop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together952 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Salmon + peppertop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,446 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Forms the main protein; it cooks through in the oven and turns flaky.
Potatoes
Form a smooth, soft base that holds moisture under the fish.

The step that matters

Bake until the salmon is cooked through. Salmon dries out quickly once its proteins set, so pulling it at the first point it flakes keeps it moist. Overbaking squeezes out moisture and makes the texture dry and tough.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Cucumberfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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